Worcester, MA – The Worcester Red Sox got club record-tying performances from Braiden Ward and Allan Castro in a 16-1 victory over the Durham Bulls in front of an enthusiastic sellout crowd of 9,508 on the final Friday night of the season at Polar Park. The Worcester win coupled with losses by both Rochester and Indianapolis kept the WooSox alive in their bid for 1st-place and a playoff spot with two games remaining.
Ward, the WooSox centerfielder and lead-off batter, went 5-for-5 with 1 HR, 3 RBI, and 5 runs scored to tie the WooSox club-record for runs in a game with Vaughn Grissom (in 2025). Castro, the Sox #3 batter and leftfielder, finished with 3 hits including 2 doubles, 1 HR, and 7 RBI as the 7 runs batted in matched Niko Kavadas (2024) and Marcelo Mayer (2025) for the most in a game by a WooSox player.
Worcester’s Tragic Number remains at 1 to be eliminated from playoff consideration. The WooSox must win their final two games and need help – Rochester, Indianapolis, and Syracuse all have to lose their last two games while Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has to lose once. The one team with the best 2nd half record in the 20-team International League earns the playoff spot that comes with it and a trip to Memphis next week to take on the 1st half winner Redbirds for the IL Championship.
The 1st inning has been by far Worcester’s most productive of the season and they added to it with a 4-spot in the first on Friday giving them a total of 122 runs scored in the 1st inning this year. Ward began the frame with an infield single, stole 2nd base to add to his Red Sox Triple-A record of 61 SB on the season, and scored when the red-hot Castro drilled a double to the left center field gap. More from Castro later. The 1st inning continued with a two-out walk to Mikey Romero before 1B Nathan Hickey followed with a towering 3-run HR (#8) well over the Worcester Wall in right.
The WooSox kept the pedal down in the 2nd inning plating 3 more runs. Franklin Arias lined a single to left to score Max Ferguson (walk), Castro hit a sac fly to plate Ward (after his second infield hit in as many innings), and Romy Gonzalez crushed an RBI double off the wall in center to send Arias home.
Worcester usurped their 4-run, 1st inning and 3-run, 2nd inning with a 5-run, 3rd inning to break the game wide open. Nate Baez & Tsung-Che Cheng singled and Ferguson walked to load the bases. Ward then smacked his third single in as many innings to score two runs. Arias added an RBI ground out and Castro capped the inning and made it 12-0 by crushing a 2-run HR (#15).
Castro, the 23-year-old outfielder from the Dominican Republic, is batting .432 in his last 9 games with 6 HR & 17 RBI. Castro’s 7 RBI on Friday upped his team-high total to 77 on the year, just 2 RBI shy of matching Bobby Dalbec’s WooSox record of 79 RBI set in 2023.
Michael Sansone, the Cheshire, CT native, made his 13th appearance and 12th start for the WooSox this season (in addition to 12 appearances with Double-A Portland) and was brilliant. Th lefty earned the win to improve to 3-6 as he retired the first 13 Bulls batters in a row before allowing a triple to Carson Williams with one out in the 5th. Williams, who had the only hit Sansone allowed in 6 innings, scored on a ground out for the only run Sansone gave up – 6 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 SO.
Durham righty Marcus Johnson (1-4) was the starter and loser for Durham yielding 9 hits and 11 runs in 2.2 innings.
The WooSox (40-31 in the 2nd half and 76-66 overall) will play their final two games of the 2026 regular season this weekend at Polar Park. Saturday’s penultimate game will start at 4:05 pm while Sunday’s finale will begin at 1:05 pm. The WooSox are pleased to continue “Fan Appreciation Weekend” at Polar Park both days as the club pays tribute to all of WooSox Nation for being the best fans in Minor League Baseball.
Saturday’s game can be seen on NESN+ and heard on NASH 98.9 FM with Worcester sending RHP Gage Ziehl (2-3, 4.63) to the mound vs. Durham righty Jesse Scholtens (3-4, 4.15).
The following Fan Appreciation events will take place before, during, and after Saturday’s game…
- The final Larry Lucchino Writer’s Series in the Polar Park DCU Club will take place from 12:30 – 2:00 pm featuring a review of the “Music of Baseball” with WooSox president, Dr. Charles Steinberg.
- Saturday is the 6th annual Childhood Cancer Awareness Day, presented by UMass Memorial Children’s Medical Center, featuring a pre-game human gold ribbon in the outfield and an in-game ceremony, during which the game will temporarily stop, and all fans, players, coaches, and umpires will be asked to rise as one and hold up placards, on which they have inscribed the name of a loved one to be honored or remembered for their battle with pediatric cancer.
- It is also the fifth and final Bark in the Park, presented by the Veterinary Urgent Care Center of Worcester. Fans who purchase a ticket package can participate in a pre-game parade around the warning track with their pups.
- Loyal Royal Appreciation Day––a celebration of WooSox Season Ticket Members––when the WooSox will wear their Loyal Royal jerseys.
- A Wachusett Regional Town Takeover, with pre-game ceremonies celebrating the towns of Princeton, Rutland, Sterling, Paxton, and Holden.
- After the game, families are invited to a Sunset Catch on the Field.